WAT DUSITTHARAM





Wat Dusittharam, or the Great Monastery of the Joyful Heaven, is located off the city island in the northeastern area of Ayutthaya, in the Hantra Sub-district. The monastery is situated on the west bank of Khlong Ayothya (1).


The temple can be reached by taking the northern road at Chedi Sam Pluem, a landmark when entering Ayutthaya from the south. Wat Ayothya lies to its south. The temple is in use by the Buddhist clergy.


Wat Dusittharam earns its name from the Sanskrit word "Tush", meaning "to be content" or "that in which all desires are satisfied. It is referring to the "Tushita Heaven", the "joyful heaven or the heavens of the joyous", the fourth Deva heaven above the earth in which the almost perfect beings, about to become Buddhas, pass their last angelic life before being born on earth to assume the Buddha hood. [1]


The monastery's area is quite large, with an old and a new section. In the old part, we find a large chedi, a vihara and an ordination hall or ubosot. The modern part consists of new modern monastic structures.





Three graduated levels form the base of the chedi. The first level is square, with, on its four corners, a small chedi. The second level is also square but smaller with indented corners. The middle-indented corners have small chedis, while the others are stupa-adorned. A stairway on the western side leads to the second level. The third level is formed by a triple octagonal base representing the Three Worlds or the Trai Phum. The Three Worlds are the sensual worlds, the form world, and the formless world, together forming the Buddhist cosmology.


The bell-shaped chedi is built in the Ayutthaya style. The dome rests on three concentric rings, on their turn representing the Trai Phum. The dome is adorned with stucco lotus buds. The collonaded harmika, or reliquary throne - typical for the Siamese style, is indented. The tapering conical spire or umbrella represents the 31 planes of existence (although the number of discs is seldom found to tally with the number of heavens), finalised by a knob or reflecting “jewel” at the tip. Many trees grow out of the monument, and several large cracks appear on its sides, giving the chedi an even more aged appearance.


Once, a large vihara stood west of this tall chedi. On its ancient foundations, a new open hall has been built, sheltering some Buddha images.


On the north side stands the former ordination hall or ubosot. It was built in a mixture of the early and late Ayutthaya styles. The structure of the ubosot is based on the early Ayutthaya style: a small building with a single covered porch. It has, although the characteristics of the late Ayutthaya style in its base, being junk or ship-shaped, the representation of "the lustrous vessel of the true law", by which Buddha would enable men to cross the ocean of transmigrating existence and reach the other shore (Nirwana). [2]


The hall can be accessed via a roofed porch on the west side. Two small doors lead into the sanctuary. The sidewalls have both rectangular windows, indicating again its construction in the late Ayutthaya period. The two-tiered roof is heavily damaged, while the wooden gable on the west side is completely deteriorated due to the weather conditions. The Bai Sema, or boundary stones of the ubosot, are beautifully adorned with a lotus flower, in which the stone has been set. The ubosot has been largely dilapidated throughout the years. Until the present, nothing seems to be done to conserve it.


Historical data about the monastery and its construction are unknown. Some sources state that the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya mention that Wat Dusit was built by Chao Mae Dusit, the wet nurse of King Narai and the mother of Phraya Kosathibodi (Lek) and Phraya Kosathibodi (Pan). She became a nun here at the time King Narai acceded the throne. I found no indications of this issue in the different versions of the Chronicles translated by Cushman. [3]


For more information on Chae Mae Dusit, see Wat Dusit.


Archaeological excavation indicates that this temple was repaired in the middle Ayutthaya period (1488-1629 CE) or at the end of the reign of King Phumintharacha (1709-1733 CE) or during King Borommakot's reign (1733-1758 CE).


Wat Dusittharam is in geographical coordinates: 14° 22' 13.87" N, 100° 35' 19.87" E.





Footnotes:
(1) Khlong Ayothya, also called Khlong Wat Doem, was a man-made shortcut canal running north-south and dug in a loop of the Pa Sak River, which riverbed later became Khlong Hantra. The canal is today defunct, but some small stretches still can be seen. The canal likely existed before Ayutthaya was established in 1351 CE as part of a pre-Ayutthayan city outpost founded by the Khmer, who ruled at Lopburi in the 11th century and controlled the central Chao Phraya River basin.
(2) The suffix "tharam" is used in Sanskrit for a comparative and superlative form (great - greater, string - stronger). [4]
References:
[1] Alabaster, Henry (1871). The Wheel of The Law. London: Trubner & Co. p. 177.[2] Ibid.[3] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. p. 305/6.[4] Whitney, William Dwight (1979). A Sanskrit grammar including both the classical language, and the older dialects, of Veda and Brahmana. Leipzig, Breitkopf and Härtel. p. 159 #473.